Music Radar reports: After weeks of speculation, Blur have confirmed a reformation. The four original members have announced a headlining show at London's Hyde Park next summer  their first gig together since guitarist Graham Coxon quit in 2002.

"It just felt it was right again," frontman Damon Albarn told NME. "It somehow feels like there's something for us to do again, we're not completely useless or pointless, we've got a reason to exist."

Coxon agreed, explaining that they're merely "making public what's been going on a little bit privately. For the benefit of the fans and those interested we can say that something's on the cards."

antiMusic reports: This story brings a whole new meaning the "slippery when wet" for Bon Jovi fans: Fall Out Boys better hope that Pete doesn't start fancying a foot ball team or the days of $10 club shows will be over. That was the cost of admission the band charged their home town fans recently. Sadly, Bon Jovi sees their most diehard fans in a very different light: deep pockets. This according the latest blog from our Special Features editor Tony K, who was dismayed to find that Bon Jovi wants over $250 bucks from their fan club members for a special fan club event. Here is the kicker: the band isn't even scheduled to appear! Read Tony's righteous rant here!.

While Britney Spears tops the chart with the latest in her string of comeback albums (details), Axl Rose has good reason to be crying in the December Rain. Guns N' Roses "Chinese Democracy" looks like its exiting the US Top 10 after just one week. Hitsdailydouble.com is estimating that the album will sell around 80,000 units this week in America, and with 69.42% of the week's sales counted, has the album projected for number 12. more. So much for that online promo company that was hired to (mis)market it!

Outkast's Andre "Andre 3000" Benjamin, along with the Cartoon Network and Turner Broadcasting, is being sued for $2 million in damages by a Boston postal worker who claims they ripped off his idea for an animated series about a group of young musicians and aired it as "Class of 3000."more.

DMX is back behind bars. X was apprehended in Florida today, just days after a bench warrant was issued for his arrest after the rapper missed a court appearance last Friday in Arizona, reports TMZ. more

Paul McCartney has denied that a track from "Electric Arguments" was pinched from an old blues song, reports NME.com at Abbeyrd's Beatles Page first made you aware of this issue on Nov. 29 and Nov. 30. In the album liner notes for "Electric Arguments," Paul acknowledged the Blind Willie Johnson blues song "Let Your Light Shine On Me" had inspired EA's "Light >From Your Lighthouse." But, as they told NME, "It's true that The Fireman used the Blind Willie Johnson track as inspiration for our own song," they said. "His is a traditional song and this is not the first time an artist has made their own version using such a traditional song."

After much speculation, it has been confirmed that The Roots are indeed the house band for Jimmy Fallon's new NBC talk show, which will replace Late Night With Conan O'Brienmore

Bob Marley's Yamaha SG 1000 electric was a big scoop for Christie's latest pop culture auction. Along with John Lennon's Vox organ and Kurt Cobain's bass, the guitar was expected to fetch $30,000 - $40,000 on 24 November. Now, Aston Barrett  bassist and founding member of Bob Marley And The Wailers  has filed a lawsuit claiming the axe was his. more

With the Notorious B.I.G. biopic Notorious arriving in theaters next month, Sean "Diddy" Combs has been involved in the soundtrack, but not the film itself. Speaking to MTV News, he said that he recently saw the finished film and approves of the story of Biggie's life, as well as his own portrayal. more

And You Will Know Us By Our Silly Long Name[a.k.a. Trail of Dead] has put the finishing touches on its next album, "The Century of Self," which is due Feb. 17. It will be the first release on the band's Richter Scale imprint in conjunction with Justice Records. more

Helmet has announced January and February 2009 European tour dates with Oakland's Totimoshi more

Unearth will headline the Massachusetts Winter Meltdown Fest on January 31st, 2009 with special guests Every Time I Die, Sick Of It All, Emmure, Since The Flood (original lineup), Impending Doom and Born Of Osiris. more

The Honorary Title have recorded a 4-song Christmas EP in just two days in the back of an elementary school. Dan Myers, a touring member of Adam Greene and Guster, produced the project as well as contributing by playing horns on the EP. The opening track, "City on Christmas" is currently streaming at www.myspace.com/thehonorarytitle.

Mikoto has announced the departure of Matt Moody (guitar/vocals), Kelly Orr (bass), and Max Cuzor (drums), who are all leaving the group to focus on their pop outfit, Teen Hearts.more

Epic president Charlie Walk will exit his post at the end of the month, sources tell Billboard. His future plans have not yet been revealed.more

Take the Blue Screen of Death With You! Is the much-rumored Zune phone finally to see the light of day? A report in Barrons' cites Trip Chowdhry of Global Equities Research predicting that Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer will unveil a device combining the Zune music player with the recently-acquired Danger Sidekick during his Jan. 7 keynote address at the Consumer Electronics Show. more

Mariah Carey: The Ballads will be released on January 20, 2009.

Dates have been announced Meshuggah's forthcoming North American tour with Cynic and The Faceless. Grab the latest (two additional shows will be announced) right here

Today marks the airing of the second episode of Spectacle: Elvis Costello with... The guests for this week are Lou Reed and director Julian Schnabel. highlights

Billboard Magazine named Leona Lewis the Top New Artist of the Year in 2008. This news follows last week's announcement of her 3 Grammy Award nominations for Record of the Year ("Bleeding Love"), Pop Vocal Performance ("Bleeding Love"), and Best Pop Album (Spirit). Also this week, Leona celebrates breaking another music business record with her new UK single "Run" (a cover of the Snow Patrol song), hitting #1 and becoming the fastest selling digital release ever.

Warped Tour's Kevin Lyman recently spoke to Tom Rowles of NotMTV about the forthcoming 2009 of the long-running tour. Kevin is promising forty minute sets rather than the traditional thirty minute runs. The show will feature less stages - just one main stage. more details and some lineup announcements

Katy Perry has said she is sorry for a comment she made about Lily Allen, in which she called herself a "skinnier version" of the Brit star. ouch! Maybe saying less credible would have been more accurate!

AP reports: Coldplay has fired back against accusations they copied another artist's work for their hit "Viva La Vida."

In a statement released on Tuesday, the band responded to a copyright infringement lawsuit filed by guitarist Joe Satriani last week in federal court in Los Angeles. That lawsuit says the Grammy-nominated song contains "substantial, original portions" of his 2004 song, "If I Could Fly."

"With the greatest possible respect to Joe Satriani, we have now unfortunately found it necessary to respond publicly to his allegations," read the statement. "If there are any similarities between our two pieces of music, they are entirely coincidental, and just as surprising to us as to him. Joe Satriani is a great musician, but he did not write the song 'Viva La Vida.' We respectfully ask him to accept our assurances of this and wish him well with all future endeavours."

Lambgoat reports: Deftones bassist Chi Cheng remains in a coma as a result of an early November automobile accident. The band has issued the following update:

"Chi remains in a coma, and as of this morning there's been no significant change in his condition. Last week he was moved out of the Intensive Care Unit and transferred to a brain rehabilitation hospital in Northern California.

"The hospital specializes in the care and management of traumatic and non-trauma related brain injuries with a team of highly skilled therapists, nurses and consultants. He's in great hands. Please continue to pray for our brother, and thank you all for your love and support."

Metal Underground reports: According to Computerweekly.com, the founder of Wikipedia has told Channel 4 News that he is considering challenging the decision to block access to part of Wikipedia in the UK. Criticising the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) for blocking access in order to prevent UK users from viewing an image of a naked pre-pubescent girl taken in 1976, Jimmy Wales said IWF's actions have actually exposed more people to the image as it spreads throughout the web. The image in question was on the cover of an album by German rock band Scorpions.

The block has also meant that millions of users in the UK are now unable to edit the encyclopaedia's pages. Commenting for the first time since most internet service providers in Britain blocked part or all of Wikipedia, Wales told Channel 4 News, "My first thoughts when I was told that the IWF had blocked the Wikipedia page was that we should take them to court. But because they're not a statutory body, I've been told we can't necessarily challenge their decision."

The government has said that it expects all internet service providers (ISPs) to block sites on the IWF's blacklist. Wales said Wikipedia is still considering its position. "The IWF was clearly over-reaching its remit when it blocked the text page on Wikipedia - there's nothing illegal about the description of the album. I'd also question its wisdom in trying to block the image itself," he said. "There's no question that it's a dodgy picture, but it's an artistic protest made many years ago. But my concern isn't so much about the image it's the ambiguous way that [the IWF] is behaving," he added.

Sleazeroxx reports: Ben Scott, the only child on AC/DC legend Bon Scott, has contacted Undercover to "throw his hat in the ring" for the upcoming movie about his Dad.

Ben saw the article last week about film-maker Eddie Martin's plans to make a movie about the AC/DC singer.

35-year old Ben, who grew up in the Melbourne suburb of Mordiallic tells Undercover News, "Upon seeing in the papers last week the articles of how Eddie would like to a bio of my Dad I wondered what Bon would have thought about this and I also wondered what some of Bon's mates would think too. Right then I decided that I really needed to 'put my hat into the ring' so to speak; because I believe that if I were given the chance there would be a lot of people who would really enjoy seeing Bon's son on the big screen."

Blabbermouth reports: Tool frontman Maynard James Keenan last week said that he and guitarist Billy Howerdel have been working on some fresh material for A Perfect Circle.

The group was formed in 2000 while Keenan had time off from TOOL, but which has been inactive since 2004. However, Keenan revealed that the band might just post a couple of new songs online instead of doing an entire album. "I doubt if we'll do any touring or, you know, do a full album," he said.

"We might do some one-off shows here and there if the timing's right and it seems like a good vibe and a smart thing to do. But most likely we'll just kind of concentrate on, you know, one or two songs at a time, rather than investing all the time and money and effort into making those plastic discs that no one cares about anymore."

TMZ reports: The surviving wife and son of one of the crash victims in the Travis Barker/DJ AM plane crash is suing the aviation and tire company for wrongful death.

Chris Baker, Travis Barker's best friend and assistant, died in the private jet crash last September. His wife, Otilia Villar Baker and son Sebastian, claim in a lawsuit filed today in L.A. County Superior Court that the pilots "negligently decided to abort and/or reject the takeoff." In other words, the lawsuit claims the proper procedure should have been to take off with the ruptured tire/tires.

The suit claims Baker suffered "severe pre and post-impact injury, damage to property, pain, suffering, and emotional distress, and ultimately died due to fatal injuries sustained from said crash including but not limited to the post-impact fire." And there's this ominous line: "The death was not immediate."

Music Radar reports: Drummer Josh Freese announced several months ago his intention to leave Nine Inch Nails, and now he's taken to his blog to explain why he's leaving the group at the end of their current North American tour.

"I've just been gone too damn much lately and if I hadn't spent so much time on the road in recent years...coupled with having three kids (come January) then I'd still be out on the road in the new year. It's just that the rate that NIN has been touring...is something that I can't keep up with right now. My kids need their Dad around and I want to be around for them.

"I am definitely not retiring or 'done touring' by any means though. I just need to be home a bit more next year. I am not leaving because I got a better offer from another band or because I don't enjoy it"

PR reports: Sean Watkins of Nickel Creek and Jon Foreman of Switchfoot have joined forces on an exciting new collaboration called Fiction Family.

Their self-titled debut album will be released on January 20 via ATO Records. Fiction Family will kick off a 21-date nationwide tour beginning January 13 in Ann Arbor, MI.

Both artists have achieved immense success with their respective bands. Sean Watkins is the guitar player and founding member of the Grammy award-winning trio Nickel Creek. Watkins has a weekly residency at the Largo in Los Angeles known as "The Watkins Family Hour," which regularly features guests such as his sister and fellow Nickel Creek bandmate Sara Watkins, as well as Fiona Apple, John C. Reilly, Greg Leisz and Benmont Tench of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. Jon Foreman is the guitarist and lead singer of the Grammy-nominated rock band Switchfoot, which has sold over 5 million records worldwide. Foreman has had considerable success as a solo artist as well. He released two double-EPs in 2007 to critical acclaim with the Philadelphia Daily News applauding his "...brooding, sensitive folk-pop...from the likes of Damien Rice and David Gray."

PR reports: Held for the first time this year at Bicentennial Park on Biscayne Bay, Langerado now calls Miami - one of the world's must cultural cities - home. Today, festival organizers make an initial artist announcement to make the Magic City proud.

Death Cab For Cutie, Snoop Dogg, Ryan Adams and the Cardinals, Thievery Corporation (Live), Slightly Stoopid and Dashboard Confessional join Flogging Molly, Broken Social Scene, Girl Talk, Cold War Kids, The Faint, Gym Class Heroes, Tricky, Chromeo, Mute Math, Black Kids, Café Tacuba, The Pogues, The Virgins, Zac Brown Band and more. Langerado is also proud to welcome back veterans from Langerado's past including Matisyahu, The Disco Biscuits, Umphrey's McGee, Robert Randolph and The Family Band and Michael Franti and Spearhead and extend a warm welcome to the many artists performing at the festival for the first time. Artists will perform on multiple stages throughout the three day event and more artists are still to be announced!

Music Radar reports: A proposed plan to include a 'music royalty' payment in US university tuition fees could see students legally allowed to download music via Bittorrent, P2P and other filesharing networks.

If successful, some analysts believe a similar model could be adopted to 'monetise' piracy across the entire internet. The university idea is that a portion of students' tuition fees would be taken by a non-profit organisation (a royalty collection society in the same vein as ASCAP or the UK's PRS) and divvied out to copyright owners. Students would then be able to continue using filesharing networks to download music without fear of legal action.

The new plan (proposed by Jim Griffin on behalf of Warner) would apparently be pretty cheap too  perhaps as low as $5-per-month  and it's already attracted the attention of three of the four major labels.